Multi gravitational maps

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

One feature I’d like to see tested, would be, as I like to call them, multigravitational map.

A normal map has only one direction of gravity, that is “down”. A multigravitational map on the other hand could have several different gravitational directions in the same map, not in the same place though. Think of a Halo for example, on the inner part of it, the gravity is always outwards. On one point on the ring, the gravitational pull is in another direction than say the opposite side, from your point of view of course. Same with a shield world.

What it means is that a player essentially could face one direction, run it and then end up in the same spot again. There are no borders on the map, if it’s a closed shape of course. You’d risk running off the edge on a Halo. Either way, It’d add a new dimension, almost literaly as player axises wouldn’t be aligned in one single direction.

It’s not only limited to the inside of a sphere either, in terms of shapes. You could basicly have any shape you want. A doughnut, a time glass, a cube, a pyramid and so on. While also being able to use the outside of the shapes. As long as it’s a usable shape of course.

It’d put a challenge on the players when they try to shoot someone who’s “on the wall” or “hanging from the roof”. As their character is differently aligned to you. Atleast I’d imagine it would.

So there’s one problem then with maps inside shapes, the center of the shape as the gravitational pull would most likely cause some sort of void in there. The solution I think would be to have a “roof” on the gravitation and make a part of the center a zero gravity zone. Now how would a player navigate in it? With the built in thrusters in the suit of course. Then as a player enters a new gravitational direction he/she realigns him/herself automatically with it so that he/she falls feet first and can continue on foot.

I even think Bungie tried to do something similair in reach forge. Skip to 4 minutes and 55 seconds.

What do you think?

Edit:

I played around with blender to make a makeshift version of the Halo CE and Halo 2 map Wizard/Warlock. Got one simple version and trying to make another one that’s more round.

Bear in mind, it’s not pretty, it’s just an illustration to show the general idea of how a map could look like.

I chose Warlock because it was one of the smaller and more simple maps, I have ideas for other “remakes” but those would require a lot more time, Warlock didn’t have much “detail” to it, as it’s more or less copy paste geometry. I also made some small changes to the map. More ramps and added ground to base entries so the bases are symmetrical. As well as two added teleporter rooms and two more entrances to the room under the central platform. Also changed the mancannons with different gravitational pull ground. I’ll show it in a picture what I mean.

This picture is from an overview of the map.

Blue are the bases, Yellow is the ground, purple are the platforms between the center platform and the bases. Red is center room and platform, Cyan is the roof and green are the teleporter rooms.

From here the screenshot is taken next to the red central platform looking up at a middle platform and a base.

Central platform

Central bottom room from outside, I do not have one from inside though.

Teleporter and two base entrances.

Base enrty vs “normal ground”. This picture shows what I meant regarding gaining entry to a base from the lower ground. Where a ladder was in Wizard, and man cannon in Warlock, I put in a strip going up to the base with altered gravitational pull. I think the picture explains it better than I can. It’s also made so it’s not a 90 degree turn so that the view of the player changes instantly but gradually.

Last picture showcasing several players in different places and showing how they’d be aligned to each other.

I might “remake” other maps as I do have some ideas, but it takes some time to get them done. And that’s if I do them.

Example of gameplay. Xonotic custom map video.

2

After reading your post my head hurts trying to imagine this. Not saying it’s bad, just I can’t understand how this would work.

The only thing I can shed light on is that the map in the Reach Forge vidoc was build on a slant or 45 degree angle. People made maps like that in Halo 3 too, while they were fun it was guaranteed to make your head hurt.

3

Basically, I think OP want’s it so we could set directional gravity, that would also alter player orientation.

So let’s say in one room the gravitation direction is “down”. I would fall to the floor. However, if I move to another room, the gravity could be set to “Up” or “Inverted” and my player character would invert, and I’d fly up to hit the roof.

Same could be said for all the walls etc. So essentially, player view or orientation could be manipulated so that one person would be upside down on the roof, and the other person would be right-side-up on the ground (in separate rooms of course.)

I for one think this is a great idea.

4

> Basically, I think OP want’s it so we could set directional gravity, that would also alter player orientation.
>
> So let’s say in one room the gravitation direction is “down”. I would fall to the floor. However, if I move to another room, the gravity could be set to “Up” or “Inverted” and my player character would invert, and I’d fly up to hit the roof.
>
> Same could be said for all the walls etc. So essentially, player view or orientation could be manipulated so that one person would be upside down on the roof, and the other person would be right-side-up on the ground (in separate rooms of course.)
>
> I for one think this is a great idea.

So, kinda like the Zero-G sections in Dead Space, but you don’t get to choose which side of the surface you walk on? I can dig that, kinda like what Gravity Zones already do in H4 Forge.

5

I like this idea. I’d love to see the kind of race maps people would be able to make with something like this!

Reminds me of this one map I downloaded on Reach. It was based on the Loz MM Stone tower dungeon (the one where you go upside-down and all that). There were teleporters that would take you to an exact replica of the map, except it was upside-down. As cool as it was, it was slightly disappointing, as you were just in a different part of the map, and not actually upside-down.

Now if your idea was made possible, that would have been one really cool map! Players walking on both the floor and the roof, having to watch out for players both above and below, as well as in front or behind. The players on the roof being careful not to fall into the sky. It would certainly add a new layer of depth to the battlefield, even if a little confusing at times! :smiley:

6

> After reading your post my head hurts trying to imagine this. Not saying it’s bad, just I can’t understand how this would work.

Hmm. Okay.

Imagine that you have a ball, and you are inside it. The gravity will pull you towards the surface. This is applied to all of it, so if you start walking to another point, you will remain upright towards the surface. But not towards your initial starting point. If you walk long enough so that you end up on the other side of the ball, you’ll be upside down compared to where you started. But you’ll still be upright.

Here’s a quitck sketch of what I mean.

> The only thing I can shed light on is that the map in the Reach Forge vidoc was build on a slant or 45 degree angle. People made maps like that in Halo 3 too, while they were fun it was guaranteed to make your head hurt.

Ah, I see.

7

> > After reading your post my head hurts trying to imagine this. Not saying it’s bad, just I can’t understand how this would work.
>
> Hmm. Okay.
>
> Imagine that you have a ball, and you are inside it. The gravity will pull you towards the surface. This is applied to all of it, so if you start walking to another point, you will remain upright towards the surface. But not towards your initial starting point. If you walk long enough so that you end up on the other side of the ball, you’ll be upside down compared to where you started. But you’ll still be upright.
>
> Here’s a quitck sketch of what I mean.

Okay, so it is like Dead Space’s Zero-G sections, I’m still liking it.

8

Like in CE when Cortana teleported MC upside down on the ceiling of a corridor in the Truth and Reconciliation and he fell to the floor after floating there for a second. :wink: That’d be really cool if not mind-bogglingly confusing, and I’d love to see what the community and myself would do with it in Forge!

9

> Like in CE when Cortana teleported MC upside down on the ceiling of a corridor in the Truth and Reconciliation and he fell to the floor after floating there for a second. :wink: That’d be really cool if not mind-bogglingly confusing, and I’d love to see what the community and myself would do with it in Forge!

I don’t know how confusing it would be, but at least it can’t possibly be worse than the Alien controls in AvP. It would certainly be unexpected to turn a corner and see someone strafing up & down on a wall.

10

> > Like in CE when Cortana teleported MC upside down on the ceiling of a corridor in the Truth and Reconciliation and he fell to the floor after floating there for a second. :wink: That’d be really cool if not mind-bogglingly confusing, and I’d love to see what the community and myself would do with it in Forge!
>
> I don’t know how confusing it would be, but at least it can’t possibly be worse than the Alien controls in AvP. It would certainly be unexpected to turn a corner and see someone strafing up & down on a wall.

The controls wouldn’t change at all. That’s the beauty of it. The plane or surface you have your feet on is your own floor. If you see someone who’s upside down on your roof, it just means that you are on their roof and your roof is their floor. Or if they’re on a wall, it just means that it’s their floor.

11

> > Basically, I think OP want’s it so we could set directional gravity, that would also alter player orientation.
> >
> > So let’s say in one room the gravitation direction is “down”. I would fall to the floor. However, if I move to another room, the gravity could be set to “Up” or “Inverted” and my player character would invert, and I’d fly up to hit the roof.
> >
> > Same could be said for all the walls etc. So essentially, player view or orientation could be manipulated so that one person would be upside down on the roof, and the other person would be right-side-up on the ground (in separate rooms of course.)
> >
> > I for one think this is a great idea.
>
> So, kinda like the Zero-G sections in Dead Space, but you don’t get to choose which side of the surface you walk on? I can dig that, kinda like what Gravity Zones already do in H4 Forge.

I’m imagining it more like Super Mario Galaxy.

12

I checked both the zero gravity part of Dead Space and what SUper Mario Galaxy was about, and I’d say they both explain well what I’d like. Altough Dead Space was limited in that it was all zero gravity. Put walking on all surface with the addition to jumping as they have gravity so that players can jump.

13

It would be an interesting experiement for map design. And a mechanic that, to my knowledge, has never been implemented in a shooter. The closest game I can think of, which was already brought up, is Super Mario Galaxy.

It’d be quite a challenge to any map designer to design a map that functions well with this level of freedom for lines of sight. I’m also not sure how it would work for players as I know from Super Mario Galaxy that camera rotations in three dimensions can be somewhat confusing and I can imagine it could be more confusing when restricted to first person perspective.

The only weak point I see with it is the human factor; the people who have to design the maps with this new dimension. If it was well executed, it would no doubt result in some fun and refreshing experiences. In the least, on large BTB maps, it could be used to produce very unique-looking play spaces.

14

Yeah I imagine it’d be quite confusing at first with a new sort of dimension. And I don’t doubt that it’d be challenging for the map designers themselves to make good maps.

Although, I don’t think that line of sight would be that much of a problem. If the center zero gravity part has static objects then it obscures a part of the map, and roos on the gravitated part for players to run under if they feel exposed.

15

Interesting.

Could always add this to the Forge Settings. And see what interesting maps people design.

16

> Interesting.
>
> Could always add this to the Forge Settings. And see what interesting maps people design.

For this I think that forge “shape” with allready set gravity would have to be made. Unless of course some massive forge pieces had a gravity area above them so that players could make their own stuff.

17

I can just imagine walking into a Forge-built skyscraper and flying all the way up to the top floor within seconds.

I would love to see what creative things the community would do with this.

18

> I can just imagine walking into a Forge-built skyscraper and flying all the way up to the top floor within seconds.

You mean the skyscraper is hollow on the inside with no gravity?

> I would love to see what creative things the community would do with this.

Yes, it’d be very interesting

19

Like the game Prey. I think it would be cool!

20

Imagine a long hallway. Each side of the hallway is colored, red, blue, green, and yellow. Red team is only allowed on the red side. Blue team is only allowed on the blue side, etc.

I think that’s an interesting twist to this forums interesting twist.

PS What if the hallway twisted around?